de-alcholizing tincture question

February 15, 2008

I just got my cryptolepsis tincture and gave it a taste test. Its just

awful. What can I do to rid the alcohol and sweeten the taste without

affecting the herb strength? I imagine I could add some boiling water

to my teaspoon dose and let the alchol evaporate some. Do you think it

will affect the strength of the herb? I know that sometimes things

have to be in raw form in order to keep potency.

Heidi N

February 16, 2008

Heidi

I can only share information I learned while teaching a " medicinal botany " class

many years ago.

Heating above a " certain " temperature--different for different herbs, and for

different formulations like tincture vs tea vs powder----can affect the

ingredients.

Some enzymes for example will denature at fairly low levels of heat. Some

proteins or carbohydrates also can change. Whether this then affects that

particular remedy depends on the active ingredient(s) and also the chemistry of

the preparation.

Maybe someone has specific info on your herb/tincture.

Sometimes with more sturdy preps, you can WARM it to drive off some alcohol, but

what I do is try to get glycerin preps for tinctures instead of alcohol, or do

teas and sweeten with stevia or honey.

And usually tinctures require a small amount not even a mouthful. Maybe swallow

fast with a chaser ( making sure that its ok with no interactions--like stay

away from grapefruit juice)

If you can tolerate good dark chocolate and IF this herb is ok with that, try a

tiny piece. The cocoa fats and strong taste will wipe away many lingering

aftertastes!!! I use this trick as given to me by my pharmacist, after some of

my rx meds too!!! Plus its " healthy " now too.

good luck

Finette

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